Zero F*cks Given, Dreams Don't Have Deadlines

One of the great lies sold to women is that time is our enemy. That there is a narrow window in which we’re allowed to dream boldly, take up space, or chase something improbable. Miss it, and the door closes. Age out. Move on. Be grateful.

But as I watched the Winter Olympics, I was inspired to see a bold, new story emerge — oddly at the exact same time as many of the Epstein files were released. As more information continues to surface, what becomes undeniable is that for decades and decades power has been concentrated in the hands of a group of wealthy, influential men who collectively shaped what women were told to value about themselves. Thinness. Youth. Silence. Compliance. An ideal that benefited them economically, socially, and sexually — while costing generations of girls their sense of agency, and teaching boys who to value and who to disregard.

This wasn’t accidental. It was reinforced everywhere: in fashion empires, in media, in advertising, and even in supposedly enlightened wellness spaces led by men who spoke the language of liberation in public while speaking a very different language with Epstein (this is a really good read about that uncomfortable truth).

But at the 2026 Winter Olympics, I watched as so many women, from all around the world, shattered these patriarchal perceptions. Three athletes in particular really inspired me. Different sports. Different countries. Different ages. Same inspirational takeaway:

Patriarchy needs a timeline. Women don’t.

Let’s start with Alysa Liu, my new favorite person on earth. A figure skating prodigy who stepped away from elite competition after finishing 6th place at the 2022 Olympics at 16 — not from failure, but from clarity. She chose mental health, college, life. Four years later she decided to return as an adult, on her own terms (in control of everything from hairstyle and music choice, to training schedule and zero dieting), skating with joy, ease, and creative ownership. Athletes (and all of us) have been taught that it’s impossible to return to sport from the petite, pliable physicality of a child to a full-grown adult and be successful… But Alysa just won Olympic gold. Twice. Proof that choosing yourself and going after a dream, even after time off and playing by different rules, can be a winning strategy.

Then there is Elana Meyers Taylor, who achieved what she herself once feared was impossible. At forty-one years old, at her fifth Winter Olympics, she finally stood atop the podium, winning her first-ever Olympic gold in women’s monobob. Fifth Olympics. First gold. Along the way, she became a mother to two young boys. She did not step aside. She did not make herself smaller. She did not accept the narrative that motherhood or age marks the end of ambition. She stayed. She endured. She evolved. And she won Gold!

And then there is Deanna Stellato-Dudek and a story so audacious it almost sounds fictional. A former top junior figure skater who retired in 2000. 2000!!!! She had a whole other career and life lived entirely outside the rink, for 17 years. And then, in her mid-thirties, she decided to try again with the goal of going to the Olympics. She started skating again. And then 26 years after stepping away — and after she got a head injury just weeks beforehand and was only medically cleared to fly to Milan days before their skate — she made her Olympic debut in Milan alongside her partner Maxime Deschamps. At 42, she became an Olympian at long last (and the oldest figure skater since 1928).

What links these stories isn’t just resilience or work ethic—though both are undeniable. It’s refusal. Refusal to let the patriarchy define the arc of a woman’s life. Refusal to believe that youth is the only moment worth investing in. Refusal to accept that stepping away, changing course, becoming a mother, aging, or starting again disqualifies you from greatness.

For generations, women have been taught to internalize urgency. Hurry up. Don’t wait too long. You’re running out of time. These athletes offer a different truth: time expands when you claim ownership of it.

They show us that dreams don’t expire. That ambition doesn’t have an age limit. That there is no single “right” path — only the one that belongs to you. Together, they offer something radical and deeply liberating: a permission structure that doesn’t require permission.

Alysa Liu showed us the power of choosing mental health and personal ownership.
Elana Meyers Taylor showed us the power of staying.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek showed us the power of returning.

Women are not settling and they’re not shrinking. They are going after their dreams on their terms. And they are winning. And this matters profoundly in the cultural moment we’re living through.

The biggest takeaways from the Olympics: Dreams don’t have deadlines.

Watch Alysa’s Gold-winning skate, Watch Elana’s Golden run.

Who inspired you? What Winter Olympic sports did you watch?

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